My 11 yo is driving me crazy with food. We eat pretty healthy. We cook A LOT from scratch and eat a ton of fruits and veggies. However, we do like to have a little junk food now and then. The problem is when we buy junk food that she will inhale it all to the point where no one else gets any. It is really frustrating to me because I feel like I can either not buy it at all which punishes the whole family, or lock it up. I dont know what else to do. I bought a bag of chips today and she ate the ENTIRE bag while I was folding clothes. No one else gets any now for the next week. She does this any time that we buy any kind of junk food. We have tried talking to her about how it isnt fair to the rest of the family, maybe to get a bowl and only eat what is in the bowl, ect. Nothing works. I will say she has severe ADHD, dont know how much that plays into it, but she also knows it is wrong. She will also sneak treats when she knows we arent looking. If I bake brownies she goes thru them like crazy. Will get up early to sneak them for breakfast and then say she couldnt find anything else. I am so frustrated and out of ideas. HELP!!!!!!!!!

Seems like perhaps the limiting is causing her to BINGE. Thats alot of food and the start of some pretty unhealthy eating habits. Discuss this with her and perhaps divide the bag up when you get home? Her share is her share. And the fat and calories she is consuming should be reasonable not absurd.

My ds is like this. He is 7 and always hungry. ALWAYS. We dont have very much junk food in the house either and he always inhales it when we get ti. He too has ADHD. That being said, his dad did the same thing when he was young and he had ADD.

The first time I read the post I saw 11 MONTH old. Now it makes sense. lol

Do you think she is really hungry and then binges on junk? If I go too long without eating and I'm starving and I see a bag of chips, I'll eat way too many, can't stop myself. Maybe she needs some small healthy snacks during the day? I too would be worried about the fat and calories in all that junk food. Not a good habit to get into. Honestly if she can't control herself you may have to just not have it in the house at all.

Seems like perhaps the limiting is causing her to BINGE. Thats alot of food and the start of some pretty unhealthy eating habits. Discuss this with her and perhaps divide the bag up when you get home? Her share is her share. And the fat and calories she is consuming should be reasonable not absurd.

Is she being treated for her adhd?? Sounds to me like maybe she is having a hard time controlling her impulse to eat the junk food. My 10 year old dd with adhd used to do the same thing. She would even sneak food and we would find packages, wrappers, rotting food in her room. She wasn't doing it because she was hungry but because she couldn't control it once she thought about doing it.

Went through this with DSS who is now 14, and also had ADHD. It was a significant problem for a while, as he was overweight and would snack down the limited junk food in the house with no regard. We did severely limit the amount of junk food in the house. We also keep a locked cupboard. We put the alcohol, medications, and junk food in that cupboard and keep the key. The other thing is that as he has gotten older he has somewhat grown out of this "eat all the junk" phase. He moved from elementary to middle school, and now gets his junk fix at school. And at 14 he is somewhat more body conscious, which limits his snacking. Hang in there, mama, this was a phase that drove me crazy, too!

IF your DD is medicated for her ADHD the other thing to consider is the timing of her binging. There is a tendency for their appetite to be suppressed while the meds are active. When the meds wear off (which is usually around the end of the school day, depending on the med) there can be a "rebound" effect where behaviors escalate and appetite is increased. This was always the case for my DSS. If this is the case maybe you could be prepared and offer lots of healthy snack choices around this time, to keep her out of the junk.